| The Amelie Chronicles | (MCU)

Part Two: Chapter Five

Halfway to New Jersey, Amelie had fallen asleep in the back seat of the stolen car. She was curled up, using Steve's jacket as a blanket, with her head resting against the window.

From the rear-view mirror, Steve could see the young teen sleeping- her brows furrowed together and mouth turned into a frown. It was obvious her dreams weren't so pleasant.

"She's been having nightmares again." Steve said quietly to Natasha.

"When did they start back up?"

"Two weeks ago was when they got bad. I can hear her in the other room." Steve explained.

"Are they like last time?" Nat asked, peeking back at Amie to make sure she was still sleeping. The young teen looked troubled in her sleep.

"With the nosebleeds and everything...." He sighed. "Do you think it's connected to what happened in the mall?"

"Probably."

"She won't talk about them." Steve ran a hand over his face, "I wish she would... I just feel useless because I can't do anything to help... she's just a kid. She shouldn't be going through any of this."

"Do you think they have something to do with Hydra?" Nat asked.

Steve thought about it for a moment.

"You might be right." He shrugged, "But I can't be sure."

"Talk to her." Natasha offered, lifting one shoulder up in a half-shrug, "She needs to talk about it eventually or else all those bottled up feelings will really effect her."

Amelie whimpered in her sleep from the back seat, twitching her fingertips and nose.

"Whenever I try to find a good time- stuff like this happens." Steve admitted.

"It's never a good time." Natasha said, "Especially for people with lives we lead."

The trio arrived to New Jersey within a few hours, pulling up to an abandoned training center. Steve parked the car a little ways away, hiding it near a tree.

As Amelie approached the site, she couldn't help but feel something crawl in her stomach. It was familiar to her, but she couldn't recall. The feeling in her stomach was a bad one... she felt like coming to this place was a bad idea.

"I trained here when I first joined the army." Steve said, "Before everything started."

Amie tried to picture a scrawny Steve running and doing all sorts of physical tests like he described to her one night. Before she learned he had been injected with the super-soldier serum, she didn't think he was actually that small as a grown adult.

"Is this where you met Peggy?" Amie asked, attempting to distract herself from the nerves of stepping into this place.

"Yeah." He smiled, reminiscing of the past- where to him the most important thing was trying to keep up with the bigger guys.

Coming to a building, Steve quickly broke the lock and lead the group inside, shield in front in case anything decided to jump out at them. As soon as they entered the old building, Amelie was certain she had been here before. She couldn't remember the outside since she never really was fully in control of herself when they traveled...

But she was awake when she was inside this building.

"I don't think we should be here." Amie said quietly, looking around the large room full of old computers like it was a haunted house. She noted where the dust and dirt was moved around and wiped- older footprints where she was dragged.